Short Seminars

Our Most Popular Short (half-day) Seminar Topics:

Elston Consulting also provides short seminar topics designed to improve productivity in your organization. Check availability on our workshop schedule page.

Leading in Times of Change

Leaders must be change agents, ready to role model the ability to listen to and acknowledge emotion and ready to recognize and celebrate success. Whenever a change happens, people affected by it experience an emotional reaction to that change. These emotions cause a fog that decreases individual productivity and the productivity of the organization. People still get results working in the fog, but they won't achieve their potential and the organization won't be as successful as it could be. Consequently, the emotional fog must be cleared away. Additionally, leaders need to recognize progress and point it out to the organization. The problem is that early on progress often comes in a clever disguise. It’s up to the leader to recognize and point progress out to others. Organizations reach a tipping point when progress becomes infectious. With effective leadership in chaos, the fog is lifted, possibilities and progress can be seen, productivity increased, and good results gained.

©Elston Consulting, 2004

Empowering Others Through Leadership

During this lively and entertaining training session, leaders will evaluate their leadership behaviors and study what it will take for them to become to be a truly great leader.

Leaders are defined by the stands that they take. What a leader does when the heat is on is the single statement to others of what that leader values most. When a leader takes a stand that truly comes from the principles he or she has set forth, the organization is transformed. The fact that the leader stood for the organization’s principles gives everyone in the organization permission to act in accordance with the principles of the organization, too.

Leaders will also see where they sometimes fail in empowering their organization. Finally, leaders will be equipped with the knowledge of what to do to bring their organization’s principles alive.

©Elston Consulting, 2004

Unleashing Creativity

Organizations have their way of doing things. Often those methods were developed over many years to serve a variety of purposes. Frequently the organization becomes more committed to following their method than they are to serving their customers. Great results come from revelations, not evolution. Unleashing creativity is the first and most important step in making outstanding improvements. In this half-day training partipants will learn ways to increase creativity and teamwork in their organization and apply that creativity to meet their organization’s challenges.

©Elston Consulting, 2004

Coaching Teams to Excellence

There is a time to take a task and run with it. There is also a time that a team working together can accomplish what a group of individuals working independently could never get done. When a team is needed it must be stocked with the needed skills, given clear direction, granted relevant authority and be held to reasonable success criteria for completion of the team’s objectives. Skip any of these vital ingredients to a successful team and you create a committee doomed for failure. This half-day training teaches how to improve teamwork and accomplish great results.

©Elston Consulting, 2004

Thriving, Not Just Surviving A “How to” for Women Leaders

Change is everywhere, from a company drastically cutting costs, to rapid growth, to closing a factory’s doors forever. Organizations often depend on women leaders to manage the human side of change in uncertain times. Women must be change agents, ready to role model the ability to listen to and acknowledge emotion so that possibilities can be seen, productivity reclaimed, and good results gained. Additionally, women leaders must take care of themselves while leading those in their organization affected by the change. This enlightening and often humorous presentation will give the keys to effectively managing this human side of change essential for organizations to achieve awesome results.

©Elston Consulting, 2004

Listening with Presence and Skill

Lack of good listening is the number one reason organizations under-achieve. The ability to give up control and listen with presence is a skill that is learned and practiced. This half day session will share the do’s and don’ts of listening and give participants the time to identify and rectify their biggest listening issues. Participants will also learn how to command the attention of others and get their point across while building relationships.

©Elston Consulting, 2004

Achieving Commitment in You and Those You Lead

In life what you declare possible and plan into action becomes the future. Too often we defeat ourselves with our own self-talk and we don’t think big enough. Also, too often, we don’t declare that the possibilities for success in our lives will be our reality. This half-day training covers creating a vision, making effective plans, and overcoming adversity. While learning, examples will have participants rolling in the aisles. It will also leave you ready to climb the highest mountain and overcome seemingly impossible odds to achieve your vision.

Increasing Productivity Across Generations

Have you ever found yourself thinking any of the following thoughts?

?I don?t know how to motivate these younger workers! They don?t seem to care about the penalties I impose for poor performance, or the rewards I give for a job well done!?
?My supervisor is clueless about what?s really going on in this company. He keeps telling us how to do our job... problem is, he doesn?t know what the real issues are!?
?We are told to work in teams but given my work group, I can get more done working at my desk alone!?

The challenge is to work together more effectively. The problem and the advantage is that we work in an environment that is age-diverse. The fact that we were born at different times caused us to grow up with vastly different influences. What was going on in our world while we were at an impressionable age shaped our ethics, values, and style. This informational, inspiring, and often humorous presentation explores some of these differences. The presentation will first focus on each of the generations existing in the workforce today. Once these generational groups are understood, strategies for working together can be applied with great success. This seminar will give you skills that you can apply immediately to improve your communication across generations and achieve greater results with less effort.

Increasing Productivity From the Middle Out

Many managers and supervisors today enjoy only half of their job. They enjoy getting the work done, solving technical problems and getting a paycheck. They don?t enjoy trying to motivate their workforce to do what upper management insists be done. They often feel set up to be the ?heavy? while struggling to get their subordinates? commitment to the plans that upper management is making. That is the dilemma of being in the ?middle?. Being in the ?middle? can be productive and satisfying if managers and supervisors are given the skills it takes to manage from the ?Middle Out?.

Why Is The ?Middle? So Difficult? There is a layer in the middle of any organization that isn?t directly responsible for doing the work, but is accountable for getting the work done. Managing in the ?middle? takes certain skills that are typically learned by trial and error or not learned at all. This class will teach you those skills that both increase productivity and improve your management effectiveness.